The F-15E "Strike Eagle" fighter of the 4th Fighter Wing of the US Army has the "Mortal Kombat" character Kano painted on the nose. Multiple "Shahed" drone shootdown marks can be seen on the fuselage, as well as AGR-20 laser guidance rocket and AGM-158 JASSM weapon marks. (Photo: Stewart Jack / Instagram)
[Compiled by Chen Chengliang/Comprehensive Report] Ten F-15E "Strike Eagles" of the 4th Fighter Wing of the U.S. Army recently returned from the Middle East. When passing through RAF Mildenhall Base in the United Kingdom, a rare video of the classic fighting video game "Mortal" appeared on the nose of the aircraft. Kombat) character painting, and a total of 45 "Shahed" drone shootdown marks can be seen on the fuselage, exposing the actual combat traces of the returning fighters.
The US military F-15E "Kitana" fighter plane has the character Kitana from "Mortal Kombat" painted on the nose. (Photo: Stewart Jack / Instagram)
The military aviation website "The Aviationist" reported on the 26th that these 10 F-15Es are located at Seymour Johnson AFB in North Carolina and were previously deployed to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility to support the "Operation Epic Fury" against Iran. Four of them arrived at Mildenhall on the 24th, and the other six arrived on the 26th. These fighters are part of the 24 F-15Es deployed by the 4th Fighter Wing in the Middle East from January to March this year.
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The report pointed out that these F-15Es continued the tradition of painting nose art on U.S. military fighter jets deployed to the Middle East when returning home. This time, the theme was based on the characters of "Mortal Kombat", including "Liu Kang", "Sub-Zero", "Kitana", "Scorpion", "Reptile", "Kano", "Cage", "Smoke", "Shao Kahn" and "Jax", etc.
Among them, characters such as "Scorpion" are all well-known characters in the "Mortal Kombat" series. Photos published by "The Aviationist" show that different fighter jets adopt different roles and call signs, allowing the same batch of F-15Es to display distinctive nose paintings.
Mounted laser rockets, low-cost counter-drone
In addition to the nose art, markings symbolizing the downing of an Iranian drone can also be seen on some F-15E fuselages. The report pointed out that the 10 fighter planes had a total of 45 kill marks related to the "Witness" drone, as well as weapon marks for the AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Remote Attack Missile (JASSM), the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb (SDB), and the suspected AGR-20 "Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II" (APKWS II) laser-guided rocket.
The report stated that APKWS II has been increasingly used for anti-drone missions in recent years. Compared with more expensive air-to-air missiles, this laser-guided rocket system can attack drones at a lower cost. The F-15E will begin integrating APKWS II in 2025. When equipped with 6 LAU-131 rocket launchers, it can carry 42 laser-guided rockets.
"The Aviationist" reported that after the U.S. military's F-15Es were deployed to the Central Command area of responsibility, nose art and fighter call signs have gradually become the tradition of the relevant troops; the 10 fighters returning this time have exposed the "Mortal Kombat" painting and "Witness" shooting down marks at the same time.
